Presence, Not Presents

This time of year, our Facebook community group’s pending post inbox is full of the same question being asked; “is this enough?” with a photo of a pile of presents attached. The piles we see vary in size, of course, but each and every pile is absolutely 100% ‘enough’ for any child this Christmas.

I know the pressure of social media and glossy magazines can make us feel utterly shit when we can’t deliver Christmas to our kids with the blowout extravagance of a millionaire who has had a trolley dash through Harrods and John Lewis, trust me, the ‘mum guilt’ is real! Obviously it’s easier said than done for me to say ‘don’t let it get to you’, because it undoubtedly will let to lots of mummies who cannot help but feel rubbish, but my point is that your wee one won’t know any different and let’s face it, how many of the enormous mountains we see on Facebook and Instagram are made up from low cost poundshop bits & bobs? Not that this is a bad thing of course, lots of mums prefer to get cheaper presents for their kids especially if they’re as rough with their playthings as my son… But I digress. My point is that quantity doesn’t always mean quality or expense.

I’m not going to rant about how we’re a consumer society who has progressively become more and more materialistic – that’s old news, and pointless bemoaning. What I will point out though is that the best parts of Christmas seem to be becoming less important… going out for a Christmas walk, family time, basically all the sentimental things that have always been pretty traditional have slowly become encroached by a fixation on going out to get even more presents in the sales instead of slobbing with your family on the sofa and cuddling or visiting family, on kids locking themselves in their rooms all day tapping buttons on their new gadgets, parents with their heads in their phones all day (I’m just as guilty for this) stressing over other peoples photographs on their (carefully cultivated) Instagram feed of their glossy magazine worthy Christmases.

What matters is presence, not presents, guys. Stop stressing that you haven’t got your child ‘enough’ Christmas presents, whatever you can afford is enough and they will be just as excited come Christmas morning as a child with a bigger pile! Spending time with you and having fun over the festive holidays is enough, the gifts are just an added bonus to this most wonderful time of the year.